“A Lamarr,” Matt breathed in awe, his gaze fixed on the ship in dock in front of them. “Do you know how freaking rare these things are?”

“Spoken like a true flyboy,” Kara nudged his shoulder with her own. “Snap out of it, or we’re gonna be late.”

“Nah, let him get it out of his system,” Zoe snickered, both her’s and Kara’s packs slung over her shoulder. “If he drools I want a pic of it.”

Elena, at the back of the group, shook her head. She was well used to their antics. The four of them had been together from the first day of the academy, and had graduated together less than a week ago. Most of that week had been taken up getting here, to DS17, where they were about to report aboard for their first assignment.

Aboard, as Matt had pointed out, one of the rarest classes in the fleet. A Lamarr class. It was a dream for most officers, one of those assignments that was highly sought after, fought over, with a wait list as long as anyone’s arm. And the four of them had managed to get assigned together. For any officer it was a dream, and something she’d never thought she’d even be considered for. Not given her circumstances and background. So she wasn’t sure whether to be happy, or quite frankly, terrified.

“Come on, you three,” she murmured, eyeing the door to the transporter room. There had been a steady stream of officers heading that way when they’d arrived and Matt had started to drool over their new ride, but now those numbers had dwindled down. “Best not to start our first posting by getting left behind.”

“Yes mom!” They chorused, and she rolled her eyes as the three of them trailed after her like baby chicks.

The trouble was, she was old enough to be their mother. It had made going through the academy… interesting, and she got more than a few looks but she’d learned to ignore them.

She led the way to the transporter room, past security who checked their orders. Ignoring the rolling feeling in her gut at using them, she kept her expression level as she herded her little group onto the pads. The other three had been in the target demographic for Frontier Day, so she could understand their lingering fear of using them. She didn’t need to add her nerves to that.

They rematerialised on the Canterbury, and she thought that Matt was about to pass out.

“Breathe,” she murmured in an undertone as they stepped off the pads and walked out into the corridor. He hadn’t shut up about the Canterbury all the time it had taken them to get here, but now he looked pale and panicky.

“Let’s find our quarters,” she said, walking off down the corridor in the direction of the junior officer accommodations. “We can drop our bags off and then all go and report in. I’ve sent deck plans to all your padds with the locations of your department heads.”

Yeah, yeah… they were all big enough and ugly enough to figure all that out for themselves, but she’d always been a mother hen and, this was a big step for them. Their first assignment. The fact it was her first assignment as well didn’t make a difference. Not to her. She was older, she’d been a mother, so she stepped easily into that role.

“Okay, we’re down here,” Zara said as they reached the right corridor. “Come on Zoe.”

Elena gave the two a little wave as they headed off and checked her quarters location.

“Hey,” Matt stopped outside a door. “Looks like we’re corridor mates. That’s yours, right?” he asked, pointing at the door opposite. She checked and nodded.

“It is, indeed.” The door slid open as it registered her bio-signature. She threw a smile over her shoulder at him. “Good location, near the turbolifts and the replicator, we couldn’t ask for better!”

He dropped his pack on the bed and rejoined her in the corridor. “Not all of us can start our days on just coffee, you know. I need actual food!”

“Well, hopefully the nearest mess hall won’t be far away.” She chuckled as they headed back to the turbolifts. The one thing Matt liked more than a full breakfast in the morning, was sleep. Which meant that more often than not, he did start his day on coffee.

“Okay, this is where we part company. Good luck! Catch you later!” she said, and stepped into a nearly full lift heading for the same deck as the bridge.